TEXAS IN HER OWN WORDS (Second Edition) by: Tweed Scott GUEST POST!

Texas in Her Own Words is a peek into the Texas psyche. It explains why Texans are the way they are . . . where all that attitude comes from. This work is the result of a statewide search for what author Tweed Scott calls the “T-Chromosome.” Texans are different but why?  Scott went statewide to find the answers to three basic questions. 1) What makes Texas special? 2) Why is this place so different than anywhere else on the planet? 3) If and when it applied, what does it mean to you personally to BE a native Texan?

 

Scott shares some remarkable answers with you throughout the book. In the end, he learned that all Texans share four traits or attributes. When you finish this book, you will understand why Texans are the way they are. IF you are a native Texan, chances are you will find some of yourself between the covers of this book. It’s a fun read.

Praise for Texas in Her Own Words

I’ve Been Writing How Long?

Guest Post by Tweed Scott

How long have I been writing?

The short answer is most of my life, I think.  I remember back to the 4^th grade when we were assigned to write a short story. I was so excited. I was going get to research, formulate and write my very own story of my choosing. I remember working my heart out doing the research, coming up with a plot and a story. I was so proud of my finished product and turned it in with a big smile on my face. Two days later I got it back with a great big red F at the top of the first page.  I failed. In addition to the big red F was the sentence, “This is Tripe!” At 8 or 9 years old, I didn’t know what tripe was! I was blown away and deeply disheartened. I knew right then that I obviously had no talent and would not attempt to write again until I was required to write a term paper in the 11^th grade. As I embarked upon that subject, I quickly realized I was about to write about a subject that was bigger than I could complete before the assigned due date. So I switched subjects for the junior year and saved the original project so I could work on it over the summer and write it for my senior year term paper and that is exactly what I did.

My subject matter was deeply personal to me. I was fascinated by the stories of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and what price they personally paid for signing that document. There were no books written on that subject that I was aware of in those days. It was almost all original research. When I completed the project and turned it in I was both proud and relieved.  When I got it back I received two A pluses! One for content and one for the writing. I felt I had redeemed myself at some level. Just then life accelerated for me. I graduated from high school and went off to the Navy the next day. My writing went into the deep freeze for the next few years.

I can’t say I did much in the way of serious writing until college after I got out of the Navy. As I became a senior in college I was a marketing major and found myself being the team writer for most of our case studies. So I found myself in the regular practice of writing. Another huge impact on my “Writing career” was radio. I fell into radio my first year in college and used radio and the GI Bill to work my way through college.

I turned it into a career that lasted 31 years. Over the course of all those years, I wrote thousands and thousands of commercials and promotional pieces. Never once during that whole time did I ever think of myself or saw myself as a writer. Writing was simply a function of my job. I f I had to go into a production studio to produce or make a commercial, it all starts with a piece of written copy. Who provides that? As often as not, it was me. So I wrote it but never gave a thought to the concept that I was writing or was being “a writer.” This went on my whole career and I never once thought about it.

When I retired and got out of a business I no longer wanted to be a part of, I went home and thought to myself, “OK fool. Now what are you going to do?”  After some thought I got to thinking about all that copy I wrote over the years and realized that, “I can convey a thought on paper. I did write all those commercials and promotional pieces” so . . . I decided to start my own copy writing business. It was during the growth of my little company that I wrote the original volume of Texas in Her Own Words.

Since then I have written all manner of blog post for myself and various Texas stories and pieces. Most of my writing is about Texas.